Match Twenty-Nine – Rotherham 2 – Ipswich 0
This was the most disappointing match of the year so far in what was the best smaller stadium we’ve visited.
Town are going through a bad spell, but they have had a tough sequence of matches since before Christmas and it just doesn’t seem to go right.
At lest coming home on the train from Sheffield, we got a lot of best wishes from Palace fans after their win at Leicester.
Travel First Class For Less Than Standard
I’ve just booked my train ticket for the Rotherham Ipswich match next Saturday on East Midland Trains.
Coming back, the First Class ticket was actually four pounds less than Standard.
It’s actually costing me £38.25 with a Senior Railcard for the First Class Return. Typically, I pay £35.45 for a First Class Return to Ipswich, which is a journey that normally takes under half the time of one to Rotherham.
Match Twenty-Eight – Ipswich 0 – Wigan 0
This match was always going to be a disappointment, as the travel was so chancy.
It did show though, how important Daryl Murphy is to the team, as we rarely do well if he’s not in the team.
I think that as he’s a very good talker, his effect on the team may be more than just what he does with his feet and head.
You Can Do Better Than This; Greater Anglia
There has been a lot of anger from Ipswich Town about the lack of communication from Abellio Greater Anglia over weekend closures of the Great Eastern Main Line. This report on the BBC gives full details.
I took the 12:03 train out of Liverpool Street for Billericay. I had checked on the Internet and knew that this train gave me an arrival in Ipswich around two. But there had been a decided lack of information at Liverpool Street.
1. The staff seemed to have not been well-briefed.
2. Where were the informational posters, saying something like This way for all Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich passengers?
The consequences was that there was a lot of confusion and an elderly couple travelling to Colchester with me didn’t know whether they should get out at Shenfield or Billericay. I wonder how many passengers missed the stop at Billericay and ended up at Southend!
One thing to which I’m right to object, is that I was paying the same £25.60 for a Senior Standard Class single, that I would pay on Monday for a similar ticket on a faster train all the way to Ipswich in just over an hour. Compare this with the price of £35.45, that I typically pay for a Senior First Class Return.
Abellio Greater Anglia also provided a Class 321 train without a toilet. Or at least I couldn’t find one. Many passengers would have expected a proper train with facilities and a rather tired Class 321 wasn’t good enough.
At Billericay, the system was much better organised and I even found a toilet. But then the town is in Essex and the county knows how to live on scraps and hand-me-downs.
I can’t complain about the coach that was provided either, except that it took what seemed to be an age to get to Ipswich.
There wasn’t much chaos at Ipswich, and I was able to enter the station to get a much-needed cup of hot chocolate.
The journey had taken two hours as against a normal direct journey of just over an hour. And of course for no reduction in price.
Coming home, I decided that it was better to go the long way round via Cambridge, where I could get a snack and then a train to Tottenham Hale. At least I got a First Class seat all the way, as I had the unused return half of a ticket for the last time I went to Ipswich, when I got a lift back home.
But the train was a rather overcrowded Class 170 train, although I did have a comfortable seat in First. But judging by the number of passengers on the 17:20 train after a match with Ipswich riding high in the Championship, a three car train is not big enough.
I just missed the connecting Tottenham Hale train, so I had to wait in the cold. But I did have time for a pit-stop and to purchase a snack in the Marks and Spencer in the station.
Normally, I get home about seven, but I didn’t get home until nine.
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Ipswich Town Get Angry
This story on the BBC follows a similar theme to one I wrote a week or so ago.
I remember some years ago, when Stoke Hill tunnel by Ipswich station was enlarged for the larger containers, and passengers were bused from Ipswich to Manningtree, that the rail companies involved ran an exemplary system, backed by copious information and publicity.
So it proves yet again that Abellio Greater Anglia generally see passengers as irrelevant except as cash cows.
Match Twenty-Seven – Brighton 3 – Ipswich 2
I like going to Brighton for a match, as the stadium is one of the best and it is just a short walk from the train station. You get comfortable seats, with good views, which can’t be said for many other stadia.
Brighton’s Impressive Stadium
Sadly, Ipswich didn’t put on a display to the quality of some of late and on a bitterly cold night they lost by the odd goal in five.
The Matches That Might Decide The Championship
Ipswich, along with most teams in the Championship have played 26 matches, but some have played one more. No team to have been struck with weather problems, so there isn’t anybody with a bit of catch-up to do.
So what are the important matches to be played?
Bournemouth – Watford(H/Jan30), Wigan(A/Feb7), Derby (H/Feb10), Brentford(A/Feb21), Notts Forest(A/Feb25), Blackburn(H/Feb28), Wolves(H/Mar3), Middlesbrough(H/Mar21), Ipswich(A/Apr3)
Middlesbrough – Brentford(A/Jan31), Notts Forest(A/Mar7), Ipswich(H/Mar14), Derby(A/Mar17), Bournemouth(A/Mar21), Watford(A/Apr6), Norwich(A/Apr18)
Ipswich – Norwich(A/Mar1), Leeds(A/Mar4), Brentford(H/Mar7), Middlesbrough(A/Mar14), Watford(A/Mar21), Bournemouth(H/Apr3)
Derby – Bournemouth(A/Feb10), Norwich(A/Mar14), Middlesbrough(H/Mar17), Derby(H/Apr3), Brentford(H/Apr11), Millwall(A/Apr25)
Brentford – Norwich(A/Jan24), Middlesbrough(H/Jan31), Watford(H/Feb10), Bournemouth(H/Feb21), Ipswich(A/Mar7), Derby(A/Apr11)
Watford – Bournemouth(A/Jan30), Brentford(A/Feb10), Norwich(H/Feb21), Watford(A/Mar17), Ipswich(H/Mar21), Derby(A/Apr3), Middlesbrough(H/Apr6). Millwall(A/Apr11)
Norwich – Brentford(H/Jan24), Watford(A/Feb21), Ipswich(H/Mar1), Millwall(A/Mar7), Derby(H/Mar14), Middlesbrough(H/Apr18)
A few notes.
1. As far as Ipswich are concerned, there are four difficult away matches, with those at Norwich and Middlesbrough, probably defining if Ipswich go up automatically.
2. Bournemouth, Middlesbrough and Derby are also still in the FA Cup.
3. Blackpool, who are probably doomed to the drop, visit all the top seven, except Middlesbrough.
4. Wigan and Millwall will fight relegation, so beware a visit there.
I’m only making two predictions!
And that is that Blackpool will be relegated and Norwich will make the play-offs.
Match Twenty-Six – Millwall 1 – Ipswich 3
This was an unusual match for me, in that I went both ways between my house and The Den, by using a single bus and a couple of walks to the stops. Admittedly the walk at the Millwall end was longer at fifteen minutes, than the couple or so, it takes to get to the stop for the 21 bus at my house.
When I was at Liverpool University, I may have taken a bus to and from Liverpool or Everton from my first year digs in Huyton, but I can’t think of any other instance in my life. I have gone to both Leyton Orient and Charlton totally by bus, but for those grounds, I did have to change. I took these pictures on my journey and at the match.
As to the match, it wasn’t very exciting and since the last meeting between the clubs, Millwall seemed today to have made no progress. They did lose both matches by two goals as well.
Ipswich’s third goal summed up Millwall. The ball was flicked to Jonathan Parr and he proceeded to run across the Millwall goal with it, just outside the penalty area. No attempt was made by the Millwall defenders to close him down, so he tried a shot, which he aimed just inside the post. It went in and looked to be a classy finish. But he shouldn’t have been able to have the shot.
FA Cup Match Two – Ipswich 0 – Southampton 1
Every year these days, Ipswich never seem to get past the Third Round.
And this year was no exception!
I agree with Mick McCarthy’s comments.
I’m always disappointed when I lose but I thought the game was a damp squib. We were OK until they scored and then they killed the game.
At least because there was no extra time, I did get home easily, if very slowly.
Abellio Greater Anglia Make Football At Ipswich And Norwich Difficult
A couple of seasons ago, my getting to Portman Road for the football was made very difficult, as virtually every match was difficult because of works on the line and it meant getting on a bus for most of the day.
So now Network Rail is sorting out the ballast on the track and from the 31st of January until the 22nd of March there will be no direct trains between London, Ipswich and Norwich at weekends.
A typical journey will now take nearly two hours, as opposed to the just over one it normally does. As that is twice, I really must get a lift up and back from somewhere.
Luckily it would appear to only be three matches; Wigan (31st Jan), Reading (21st Feb) and Brentford (7th Mar), as most in the period seem to be on Tuesday evening or we’re away at easier places to get to like Rotherham or Middlesbrough.
Tuesday night matches seem to be OK at the moment. Although, if we have extra time and penalties in the FA Cup replay on Wednesday, getting home might be tricky. As I write this there is a lot of anger on the forums complaining about no late trains after the match to Cambridge, Lowestoft and Felixstowe.
For the Norwich match on the first of March, which thankfully has a 14:05 start, it looks more feasible to go via Kings Cross and change at Cambridge.
Obviously, the ballast cleaning has to be done, but Abellio Greater Anglia could have used this disruption to fans getting to and from matches as a vehicle to show how well they can deal with adversity, instead of getting the old tired solutions out of the box.
For example, Abellio Greater Anglia have several rakes of Mark 3 coaches that run the services up the East Anglian Main Line. Could they not use a diesel locomotive to on match days run a football special either via or from Cambridge? Properly done, it might retrieve their battered reputation and encourage more people to travel by train.
But they can’t even get their information right. This was a poster at Liverpool Street on Saturday the 10th.
Greater Anglia Gets The Dates Wrong
That is unless it’s me who’s got the wrong dates. At least they said the first of January was New Year’s Day. Although, it was a Thursday not a Wednesday.
It would be interesting to know how Norwich fans are coping during this period, as I think quite a few are dependent on using the long-distance trains to get to both home and away matches. Surely, during this interruption, they should seriously think about running direct diesel-hauled services from London to Norwich via Cambridge for all passengers. Does granny visiting Norwich really want to spend hours on a coach, when she booked a comfortable train? Especially, if it’s crammed full with angry football fans worried about missing the match or getting their onward connection in London.
Yet again, Abellio Greater Anglia have shown all the conservatism and arrogance of their Dutch masters, who managed the Fyra fiasco and introduced one of Europe’s worst ticketing systems to piss off foreign visitors.
The Anonymous Widower 